Good morning lovely people tis Friday time for
So as you will know from last week's post we were away last week, so this week you get the enjoyment of seeing what we got up to (as this week has been wall to wall work and trying to get back into the grove)
So first up a trip to Brinkburn Priory, it surprised us as the church was intact despite Henry VIII dissolution of the monasteries, reading up afterwards it appears it was repaired in the Victorian era as it wasn't completely ruinous unlike some of the abbeys and monasteries around the country
The inside was beautiful and the stained glass absolutely gorgeous
The rear of the church and you can see the church on the left and the manor house built with some of the outbuildings on the left, although they used the original monastery footprint for the cellars. The house is in ruins inside as they had a significant dry rot problem and I'll be honest, the church building and the half remaining cloisters were far prettier.
then we toddled off to Newbiggin by the sea, to see their sea sculpture
The maquette to the statue is on the sea front, so we found that too
And managed to get a photo of the maquette and the statue in the shot, the artist is Sean Henry who did the man on the hill at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
The following day we went to Belsay Hall Castle and gardens, it was a lovely day, very peaceful walking through the quarry garden and we loved the smell of the candyfloss tree that is grown quite prolifically here and smells at this time of year of burnt sugar
The hall and castle are always a beautiful sight I love the warmth of the stone. We couldn't climb the tower due to the times we live in, but we did enjoy the solace, the fresh air and time with each other.
Tuesday saw us visiting Alnwick Castle, always a favourite as it was used for filming Harry Potter in the first two films. This particular wall is the one the Ford Anglia flies over in the second film for anyone interested.
We also went in search of Professor McGonagall's room as we wandered, not sure which one it is.
Alnwick has also been used in the last transformers film as well as a key filming location for Downton Abbey and it is still lived in by the family that own it.
Wednesday and we headed to Bamburgh Castle, despite the fact that it is one of the most iconic castles in the country we didn't actually get a photo of the exterior. Again still lived in by its current owner, I must admit to admiring this amazing ceiling inside.
We also were due to visit Dunstanburgh castle but as you can see the rain was pouring, we got half way along the path to it (as that's the only way to get there) and had to admit defeat and turn back, so this is as close as we got!
Thursday was our penultimate trip out and we'd opted for the beautiful National Trust house of Cragside with its surrounding gardens, built during the Victorian era by an Industrialist, it is always such a delight, originally this was moorland which he planted out its hard to believe that it hasn't always been woods.
Final day back to Alnwick but this time the gardens, designed and built in the year 2000 they really are amazing, we spotted this lego sculpture of the gardens on our way in
And here is the grand cascade in all its glory
Absolutely beautiful day just missing some blue skies but we managed to dodge the raindrops
So as you can see we had a lovely holiday away, thankfully it was last week and not this week, because had it been this week we'd have had to cancel as our local area is now in a local tier 3 lockdown, which means no moving in and out of the area amongst other things.
We arrived home bright and early on Saturday, said 20 year old had been home alone all week working on his university stuff, so he was grateful for some company and it was fabulous to catch up.
The rest of the week has been washing, drying, work etc but I'm definitely grateful for the break last week, it was very much needed!
I hope you've had a good week too, if you fancy joining in, pop a post together, come back and link up and we can come and visit.
3 comments:
That sounds like a terrific holiday! Lots of beautiful places visited. I will go and look them all up and look at them when I have a bit more time. We are moving all our stuff out of our bottom flat (where we live in the summer)so that a couple with a 4 yr old can move in. They live in the mountains but since september their little boy goes to school and they have to drive 30 km of mountainous dirt track to get to our village. (which takes an hour and 20 minutes). So they were desperate to move. We're putting them up until they find something more permanent.
We are also in a type of lockdown. We are not allowed to move outside the boundaries of our village unless necessary. (work, school, hospital etc).
The Sean Henry statues are great fun to see and the castles impressive. I like how they put 'people' on the ramparts of Alnwick castle.
The Lego sculpture is amazing.
Thank you for sharing your holiday photos with us.
Have a lovely weekend and stay safe,
Hugs,
Lisca
what great timing on your part, Virginia, and what beautiful photos, the Priory is fantastic, particularly. The forecast here has worsened for tomorrow so I think my trip to Kew may involve the blasted umbrella, lol!
That sounds as though you had a lovely time. I am sure it did you good to get right away together. The places you visited look beautiful.I particularly liked the Belsay Hall Castle gardens and that lovely wooden ceiling in Bamburgh Castle. I wonder what it is like to be living a place like that?!
Now it is back to work. I see you have the same sort of restrictions as us now. I hope you can stay safe at work. Kate x
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